Elm

Pronunciation

• enPR: Ä•lm, IPA: /É›lm/
• Rhymes: -É›lm

Origin

From Old English elm, from Proto-Germanic *elmaz (compare dialectal Low German Elm, dialectal German Ilm, Swedish alm), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁élem 'mountain elm' (compare Irish leamh, Latin ulmus, Albanian ulzë ("maple")).

Full definition of elm

Noun

1. (countable) A tree of the genus Ulmus of the family Ulmaceae, large deciduous trees with alternate stipulate leaves and small apetalous flowers.
• 1879, Richard Jefferies, The Amateur Poacher Chapter 1, As one sat on the sward behind the elm, with the back turned on the rick and nothing in front but the tall elms and the oaks in the other hedge, it was quite easy to fancy it the verge of the prairie with the backwoods close by.
2. (uncountable, usually attributive) Wood from an elm tree.

Derived terms

Anagrams

• LEM, L.E.M.
• mel, Mel
• MLE